IRAQ ABLE TO RETAIN AIR FORCE

WASHINGTON -- After four days of aerial bombardment, U.S. officials have concluded that the vast majority of Iraq's air force has escaped destruction.

But how much of a role the Iraqi air force can play in the war will depend on the ability of Iraqi pilots to operate without directions from ground controllers and radar.

In addition, the ability of the Iraqi air force to counterattack will be limited by the continuing assault on their airfields and shelters, as well as on the so-far superior skills of U.S. and allied pilots.

The apparently large number of planes that have escaped concerns American officials, who say that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein may be planning air attacks on American troop concentrations and ships at a later stage.

The number of surviving Iraqi aircraft is not known because cloud cover is obscuring intelligence assessments and because it is difficult to tell how many planes are inside the many aircraft bunkers that the Pentagon reports have been struck.

One crude administration estimate is that 80 percent of Iraqi military aircraft are safe because they have been dispatched to bases in the north or are inside concrete shelters.

Only 15 Iraqi planes have been confirmed destroyed in air combat, the United States command says.

It has not provided precise figures on Iraqi planes thought to have been destroyed on the ground.

But on Friday, a Pentagon official said that three Iraqi planes were known to have been destroyed on the ground. Iraq has more than 500 combat planes, not counting trainers or transport planes.

The battle for the skies is apparently being won by the United States and its allies.

By and large, Iraqi planes have left the skies. And when they challenge the attackers, the Iraqi planes have been shot down, the United States and its allies say.

No American or allied planes have been shot down in aerial duels.

All but one of the nine lost American planes were struck by ground fire, mostly from anti-aircraft guns.

The one plane, an F-4G crashed in Saudi Arabia because of a mechanical failure. Six British, Saudi, Italian and Kuwait planes have also been shot down.